‘Go green’ during Holy Week, says environmental group

MANILA, Philippines–This coming Holy Week, do acts of mercy for Mother Earth, too.

Stay at home and save gas. If you’re going out for the traditional Visita Iglesia (church visit), join a car pool or, better, ride a bike. Share your food, clothes, and books with others.

And reduce your trash.

The environmental network EcoWaste Coalition on Thursday shared these tips on how to spend an “eco-friendly’’ Holy Week.

“We urge our Christian brothers and sisters to voluntarily declare Palm Sunday to Easter ‘Walang Aksaya’ (zero waste) Week and avoid practices and activities that generate garbage and pollution during the holy days,’’ Ecowaste president Roy Alvarez said.

Some more tips from the coalition:

* Abstain from malling, movies, TV, Internet games, texting, and using electronic gadgets that consume lots of your personal time, and rediscover the satisfaction of physical exercise, the wonder of conversations, and the joy of spending fruitful moments with your loved ones.

* Quit smoking; give up morning and afternoon snacks, and share your savings with charity; fast and abstain, and spend money on feeding the poor; avoid fast-food meals, junk food and soda.

* Most important, cut waste and reduce consumption of water, electricity, and other valuable resources, and observe ecological discards management such as sorting, reusing, recycling and composting.

“A break from our usual buy-consume-throw routine during the Holy Week and beyond could be our penitential act leading to our ecological conversion,” Alvarez said.